The Internet has become an expansive backbone of communication with a vast repository of information available in various formats. The formats include simple text, audio, graphics, and video and are also known as Multiple Internet Mail Extension (MIME) formats. Internet browsers allow users to interface with the Internet and display files that belong to many of these formats.
Current browsers do not have the capability to support all of the MIME formats available on the Internet. Thus, in order to view a downloaded file having a MIME format that the browser does not support, a user must find a viewer for the file and configure the viewer to support the file. Viewers are software applications that facilitate viewing of a particular format on a computer system. A viewer may be, for example, a "plug-in" that enhances the capability of a browser by supporting different MIME formats intrinsically. A viewer may also be, for example, a "helper application" which is spawned for formats a browser cannot understand. The existence of many formats and applications associated with the files on the Internet make it difficult and time-consuming for a common user to search for the viewers and regularly up-date them. It is even more difficult for the user to install and configure the viewers. The installation and configuration process may include the steps of finding an appropriate viewer, allocating an appropriate location to store the viewer, reformatting the viewer to a usable form, copying the viewer into appropriate operating system directories, and updating the viewer with the most current version. Users unfamiliar with computers will find the steps in the installation and configuration process, difficult to complete.
The installation and configuration process of software is not limited to that of installing and configuring viewers for browsers. The problems associated with the installation and configuration of viewers for browsers also exist for users downloading software from software vendors using the Internet. Software vendors are using the Internet as a vehicle for software delivery. Vendors prefer using the Internet over the conventional method of creating sets of disks to distribute their product. Using the Internet saves the vendors money and time by not requiring the manufacture and shipment of software disks.
Thus, an apparatus and method is needed for automating the searching, installation, configuration, and updating of software for a computer system.